BIG TEN: Ex-Mater Dei defensive end, Polk, a hit with IU coach

Ex-Mater Dei Defensive End shows stuff as walk-on

CHICAGO - Former Mater Dei defensive end Ben Polk already has made quite an impression on Indiana University head football coach Kevin Wilson.

"I think he's going to be really good," Wilson said Thursday at the Big Ten Football Media Days. "He's like a scholarship guy who's a walk-on.

"In (walk-on) camp, he was very athletic, explosive. He has a big frame. I think he's a guy that is going to grow into one of these bigger guys. I think he's a tight end, defensive end guy who is going to grow into maybe a defensive tackle or offensive tackle; a 290-pound guy who can run.

"He doesn't run as well as you want your tight end to run, but he's big-boned enough that when he quits playing all these other sports he's going to fill out and be a reasonably large, hopefully strong, athletic big guy."

Wilson said his staff showed enough interest in Polk, an all-state defensive end, to convince him to turn down scholarship offers at Indiana State and Southern Illinois and accept an invitation to be a walk-on at Indiana.

"I think he was under-recruited. We were lucky enough that his family went here and even though he got a couple of small offers there were enough Indiana ties that we didn't extend an offer but we got him.

"We tried to recruit him without recruiting him."

As a former walk-on offensive lineman at North Carolina, Wilson believes finding talented non-scholarship players to fill out the roster is vital.

"I think it's as critical as landing some of these four-star recruits on paper," he said. "We network it very, very hard. We work hard at finding walk-ons."

Urban Meyer showed up at the Big Ten Football Media Days hoping to keep his focus on the high expectations his Buckeyes have this season. But that plan was shredded on Monday, the day before he arrived in Chicago, when Ohio State suspended four players, including starters Carlos Hyde and Bradley Roby.

Tailback Hyde has been accused of hitting a woman in a bar. Roby, a cornerback, allegedly punched a bouncer. Two freshmen, tight end Marcus Baugh and lineman Tim Gardner, have had other alcohol-related incidents.

So much for the focus being kept on being rated the favorite to win the Big Ten after a 12-0 season in 2012 when the Buckeyes were on NCAA probation because of violations before Meyer's arrival in Columbus.

"In the last 12 months we've had three legal issues, and it all happened in three or four days," said Meyer on Tuesday. "It drives you insane to have to deal with that nonsense."

Meyer is no stranger to player misconduct. He had 31 arrests during his six seasons at Florida. Now he's had eight players arrested after one season with the Buckeyes.

Wisconsin coach Gary Anderson takes over a Badgers' program that has won the last three league championships, but the former Utah State coach said he doesn't feel extra pressure to build on that streak.

"I'm not interested in comparing what was different, whether that may have been what we deem as being great, good or indifferent," said Anderson, whose Utah State squad lost to the Badgers 16-14 last season. "So I've never asked the question of how things work here. There's going to be differences when you take over a program. It's important to put your own stamp on it."